Nation: Peddler's Grandson

• Share

(3 of 4)

From that point on, Goldwater's status as a tenacious, uncompromising advocate of Republican conservatism was secure. He continued as chairman of the Senatorial Campaign Committee, journeying again and again into all parts of the country both to speak for G.O.P. candidates and to lecture on his philosophy. He easily won re-election in 1958, this time riding not another man's coattails but his own deeply felt convictions. He did not try to hide his dissatisfaction with the Eisenhower Administration. Once he called it a "dime-store New Deal," and on another occasion, when he was asked if Milton Eisenhower might make a good presidential candidate, he sniffed: "One Eisenhower in a generation is enough." He expressed his own political creed in a book, The Conscience of a Conservative, which since 1960 has gone through 20 editions, sold close to 21 million copies.

In 1960, Goldwater provided almost all the excitement at a dull Republican National Convention. Everything had been set up for the nomination of Richard Nixon, but Barry's conservative backers insisted on placing him in nomination. Knowing he could not win—and feeling that the conservative cause would suffer a setback with his defeat —Barry withdrew. His voice harsh with emotion, he pleaded for party unity. But he also made it dramatically clear that he had not given up his cause. Cried Goldwater: "Let's grow up, conservatives! If we want to take this party back, and I think we can some day, let's get to work!"

Waterloo. Dick Nixon's miserably managed campaign and subsequent defeat added the imperative to Barry's call. The national G.O.P. organization was left in total disarray, and no one seemed interested in repairing it. No one, that is, except Goldwater's conservative enthusiasts. They went to work with a will, gradually taking over county and town committees, grooming their own local candidates, and tirelessly plugging Barry.

All the while, moderate leaders dozed complacently. When the time came, they felt certain, they could easily sidetrack the Goldwater movement and, as they had so often in the past, nominate one of their own for President. As the 1964 campaign began, only Nelson Rockefeller, his appeal tarnished by his divorce and remarriage, was actively fighting.

Polls and primaries added to the illusion that Goldwater could not win the nomination. Barry did very badly in New Hampshire and Oregon, won unimpressive and largely uncontested victories in such states as Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska and Texas. But what was unappreciated was the fact that in state convention after state convention, his backers were in complete control, and consistently naming Goldwater delegates to San Francisco.